


White Fences (and Dresses and Dreams)

by danniperson



Series: Family Album [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, M/M, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 15:35:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5296745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danniperson/pseuds/danniperson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony doesn't believe in marriage, to the distress of his boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	White Fences (and Dresses and Dreams)

Tony and Natasha didn't "get" marriage.  They had droned on and on about the fickle institution of marriage, how people shouldn't need a legal document and a party to declare their love.  Relationships could stand strong on their own, without rings to mark their ownership, would be stronger without the expectations of forever that no one these days could keep.  They were very supportive of Pepper and Coulson's engagement, happy to help (monetarily in Tony's case, planning in Natasha's), but they didn't see the point.  Pepper and Coulson were hardly offended, and Pepper would just smile indulgently, fondly at Tony and pat his cheek and veer the subject back on track of venues and music.  

 

The bride and groom were unaffected, but Steve was not.  He understood their point, to an extent.  He cared about Tony.  Love didn't  _need_ to be legally binding, they didn't need a fancy party or rings or any of that to be in love.  Steve didn't understand the comparison to slavery, the whole  _'claims of ownership'_ rants making his stomach churn.  Tony knew Steve liked the look of him wearing his dress shirts or t shirts, especially early in the morning with his hair mussed and evidence of their lovemaking in the purple fingerprints on his hips and the red love bites along his neck and collarbone.  Tony didn't seem to mind  _those_ claims one bit, though Steve felt too guilty to leave them lately.  

 

Marriage sounded so silly, when they made their points, and Steve had a hard time defending it as a tradition.  What was the point?  People got divorced all the time these days.  A wedding might be a promise, but it was one easily broken.  No one could guarantee forever, no matter how badly they wanted it.  Things happened.  But Steve wanted that promise.  He wanted forever.  He wanted to be able to call Tony his husband one day, to wake up beside him every day.  Not that he didn't already, one of Tony's points.  

 

It was hard to explain, hard to defend, but there was just something about marriage, something magical, what it meant and how it changed things...because it did change things!  People said so all the time.  Some people said so.  Not everyone agreed, but to some people it made things better.  It made their bond stronger, made them love each other a little more.  

 

Who was he kidding?  Steve was a product of his own time, a relic of the past.  A reminder of old morals and old dreams, and Tony...Tony was the future.  He so fully represented progress that of course he held onto these newfangled, liberal ideals.  Of course he viewed it as an archaic, unnecessary institution.  He was content to live in sin with Steve for as long as he loved him.  And that might be forever, but it might not be, and that was fine.  He was realistic that way.  Steve was too much of a romantic for his own good.

 

Steve sat at the bar, nursing a glass of champagne while Tony moved across the dance floor, constantly changing partners.  He'd carried Pepper through a waltz, dabbled in some hip hop with Darcy, and now Natasha was leading him through a tango.  Steve laughed, and the amusement hardly touched him.  His heart had been in his stomach all evening and he wore his smile as well as his tux, but he wasn't fooling everyone.

 

Bruce offered a sympathetic smile as he joined him.  "Tony is a lifesaver.  I have two left feet, and Natasha..."  He shrugged and glanced pointedly at the graceful way she moved through the crowd.

 

"I think she's even giving him a run for his money," Steve chuckled.  Steve wasn't much of a dancer himself.  Tony had taught him, back when they first started dating, but Steve was too big and clumsy to do anything other than a slow dance here and there.  Even then he had to be very, very careful not to trample on his partner's toes.  This big, bulging mass of a body wasn't always a blessing and often his body felt all wrong - too heavy, taking up too much room, causing too much trouble.  In battle it was a godsend.  On the dance floor, not so much.  

 

"Better him than me," Bruce said, accepting a glass of champagne with a nod.  "You know, I didn't even know I wanted to get married until she told me it would never happen.  I'd never thought about it, ever."

 

"I did.  A lot," Steve confessed.  He gulped down the rest of his glass and set it aside.  "Being with a man was illegal back then.  So I always thought I'd find my way into the war...come back, meet some pretty dame.  Settle down in a nice house, get a good job, have a few kids, get a dog.  The whole White Picket Fence Life.  It was a nice dream...Never thought it would happen.  I was never very popular with the ladies...Then I got big, and people liked me.  And I wake up seventy years later and having a fella is okay.  They made it legal.  And I could finally admit to myself what I really wanted, could love who I really loved, and I thought - I could have this.  It might not be that white picket fence, but I could  _be_ with Tony.  I could have all of that...with him.  Not the way I pictured it, but it was possible.  Right there, and now..."  Steve laughed humorlessly and shook his head.  "It's silly.  It's no reason to be upset."

 

"It's every reason to be upset," Bruce said quietly.  "It matters to you.  Those two can be very persuasive, but marriage isn't meaningless.  Not when it really means something to the people in it.  Don't let them make you feel stupid for having your own feelings about it.  We also can't change their mind.  Me?  I'm happy with Natasha.  Happier than I've ever been."  He smiled, and the look in his eyes was bittersweet.  "I'd love to marry her.  But I love her more than I love marriage, and I'll take her any way I can have her.  You just have to decide what matters most, and go from there.  We can't have everything...but you have a choice.  You can have something."

 

"You're right," Steve said.  "I...I'd rather have Tony."  Tony had given him so much.  Tony had shown him a reason to live - to  _really_ live.  Tony reminded him who Steve Rogers was outside of Captain America.  Tony guided him through this new time, this new world, and helped him come to terms with his sexuality.  In Tony, he had someone who challenged him, who loved him, someone who made him think and got him out of his head.  Tony gave him someone to care for, someone to love.  Tony filled a void Steve hadn't known existed.  Tony was flashy and smart and interesting, never dull, always chock-full of surprises.  He was vibrant and so very alive, and so unique and so special to Steve.  

 

He might want that White Picket Fence.  He might want to have a wedding, exchanging rings and "I do"s.  He might have transferred his pregnant wife birthing a baseball team of kids into adopting a baseball team of kids, but that was hardly practical in their line of work.  Steve had never really been normal, never meant for a normal life.  And Tony was a gift.  Steve could let go of everything else, because at the end of the day, he'd take Tony in his arms over any of it.  

 

A snort came from behind them and both men turned around to see the newlyweds behind the bar.  The pair just smirked and Pepper rolled her eyes as Coulson shook his head.  

 

"That's sweet and all, really, Doctor, Captain," Pepper said.  "You shouldn't push them, but...You didn't think they were a little...loud about it?"

 

Steve's brows furrowed and he glanced at Bruce who looked just as confused.

 

Coulson sighed.  "The lady doth protest too much.  Remember?"

 

Pepper took Coulson by the hand and gave him a kiss on the cheek as she led him back to the dance floor.  Steve and Bruce turned, leaning back against the bar, watching thoughtfully as Tony and Natasha danced.


End file.
